In school cafeterias, as well as in other similar establishments, there is a substantial use of throw away containers such as the typical styrofoam container for food. This is wasteful in that these containers are usually disposed of and end up in landfills or the like sites.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system and apparatus for collecting containers, particularly reusable containers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for collecting containers wherein each container is identified by a code that is scanned as the container is inserted into the storage receptacle.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system, apparatus and method for collecting containers and in which a token or receipt is generated upon the deposition of the container.